


Only Darkness At The Finish

by flawedamythyst



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-24
Updated: 2008-12-24
Packaged: 2018-10-16 08:44:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10567743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: Sam was kneeling in the middle of the cellar's dirt floor, and he was so still that for a horrifying moment Dean thought he was dead after all, and that the demons had just propped him up in position to trick him.





	

There was a red lollipop on the ground, encrusted with dirt. Dean pulled out his gun as he crept towards the storm cellar entrance, clutching it tightly and praying to anyone listening that he wasn't going to find what he feared.

Just inside the cellar door there was a dead body, slumped half down the stairs. Dean prodded it cautiously with his boot, just in case, but even a demon couldn't reanimate someone with the top of their head blown off. He stepped over it and down the stairs.

Sam was kneeling in the middle of the cellar's dirt floor, and he was so still that for a horrifying moment Dean thought he was dead after all, and that the demons had just propped him up in position to trick him. Then Sam's head turned towards him, and Dean felt his heart restart.

“Dean,” said Sam, and Dean grinned at him.

“Hey, Sammy,” he said. Sam didn't smile back. His face was curiously blank, as if wiped clean of all emotion, and after a moment of gazing at Dean, he looked back down at whatever he was kneeling over. Dean glanced around at the rest of the cellar, taking in the three other dead bodies, all with their heads blown off like the one at the top of the stairs. There was nothing alive except Sam, so he tucked his gun away and descended down the last few stairs, desperate to touch Sam and feel the tangible evidence of his existence after three long days of searching for him.

When he got closer, he could see what Sam was looking at. It was the dead body of a little girl, maybe seven years old, wearing a blue dress with a white sash. Her skull was blown out, and Sam had his fingers twined in her blood-soaked hair.

Dean crouched down next to him. “Lilith?” he asked.

Sam nodded, not looking up from the girl's face. “She was going to kill me,” he said just as softly, as if the girl was just asleep and he didn't want to wake her. “Some kind of ritual to open a seal. She was taunting me first, though – talking about you, and Hell.” His voice faded even quieter. “I just got so angry. I didn't. I didn't know I could do this, Dean, I swear.” He turned to Dean desperately, and Dean could see tears flooding his eyes, but not yet ready to fall.

“I know, Sammy,” he said, holding tightly to Sam's shoulder. “It's okay.”

Sam shook his head and looked back at the girl's body. “I killed her,” he said so quietly Dean barely heard him.

“No,” said Dean sharply, pulling Sam's head around, away from looking at her. “No, Sam, Lilith killed her. You know she probably wouldn't have survived being possessed.”

“That other girl did,” said Sam stubbornly, and Dean clutched hard at his neck, staring hard into his eyes as if he could persuade him just looking.

“That was different – she was playing with us then. This girl – who knows how long she'd been possessed? And anyway, you didn't know you were going to do it. It was an accident.”

Sam didn't look convinced, but the tears didn't fall so Dean counted it as a win.

“Is she...Is Lilith still around?” he asked carefully.

Sam shook his head. “None of those demons are ever coming back,” he said tiredly, and Dean had to bit the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning.

“So, we won,” he said, just to make sure. “she's...it's over.”

Sam looked back down at the girl. “Yeah, we won,” he said. “And she lost.”

Dean dragged his head away again. “It's not your fault,” he said firmly. “Lilith got her involved.”

Sam nodded tiredly, dropping his forehead against Dean's. “I know,” he said. “But...”

Dean held him close like that for a long moment, clutching at Sam and hoping this victory wouldn't break his brother. “Let's go,” he said after a moment. “Get out of here, call the cops, get you cleaned up.”

Sam sighed, but didn't protest, letting Dean pull him up and out of the cellar with only one last look at the bodies they were leaving behind.


End file.
